Quantification of spatial heterogeneity in old growth forests of Korean pine

Abstract

Spatial heterogeneity is a very important issue in studying functions and processes of ecological systems at various scales. Semivariogram analysis is an effective technique to summarize spatial data, and quantification of spatial heterogeneity. In this paper, we propose some principles to use semivariograms to characterize and compare spatial heterogeneity of ecological systems and use an example of old growth forests of Korean pine to demonstrate these principles and to discuss its characteristics of spatial heterogeneity.

Keywords

Spatial heterogeneity / Semivariogram / Korean pine / Landscape ecology